I am having trouble getting my camera to focus on what I want it to when I want it to. When I zoom in to focus on someones face, it almost always focus' on the background. I press the button halfway to try and get it to focus on something else but it doesn't work most of the time. Is there an easier and faster way to get the camera to focus on what I want it to?
I'm getting quite frustrated with it not doing what I want it to do.

Hum, I have one. Mine does the same thing. I dont really have any good tips for you. I mean its a pretty good point & shoot but its no slr. I still have mine but, i never used it. Looking back, knowing what i know now. I should have gotten an slr from the start.

I don't use the S3, but on my D40, I almost always select the focus point by hand -- because I prefer that level of control. There is certainly a mode that would let you do that, although it will ultimately mean more work for you.

I don't think anyone said that. What you may want to do is figure out how to set your focus point by hand. Most P&S cameras that I have seen allow you to do that, although the option may be buried in a menu.

If your camera has face detection, use that. Cameras focus best when they are focusing on areas of greater contrast. If theres not a whole lot of contrast, then its going to have a sh*t difficult time in trying to figure out what it is supposed to be doing. I would check your manual and see if you have the ability to override and select focus points on your own.

Agreed. Check your manual and see if there is a way for you to choose the focus point you want to use. If you let the camera choose, it will look at all of them and then pic the one that can focus the closest to the lens. I have my cameras set to use the center focus point only, never anything else. Each time I have tried to let the camera decide, I am lucky to get 5 pics before the camera makes the wrong decision.